Amazon is one of the biggest ecommerce stores in the world. Shopify recently partnered with Amazon to allow entrepreneurs, like you, to sell your products through Amazon as well. You can use Amazon as a sales channel to grow your revenue. In this article, you’ll learn how to sell on Amazon. You’ll also learn why it’s a great sales channel for your dropshipping store. In addition, you’ll learn a few tricks to maximize your Amazon sales. We’ll also debunk a few myths about selling on Amazon.

Why You Should Sell on Amazon

It’s the biggest online sales channel

Amazon is the biggest online sales channel for an AliExpress dropshipper. With over 244 million active users and 32.7 billion in net sales in 2016’s Q3, Amazon has proven its popularity. With such a large customer base, many will often shop for products they want on Amazon. The massive ecommerce store carries over 353,710,754 products but that doesn’t even include books, media, wine and a few other exceptions. Don’t be discouraged by the amount of competition you might face. It’s better to be where your customers are than to let your competition take all of your potential sales.

Additional stream of revenue

The main reason you should sell on Amazon is because you’ll have access to a second stream of income. When it comes to sales, you’ll want to be wherever your customers are. If your customers are on Facebook, create Facebook ads to reach out to them. If your customers love reading and learning about your niche, create a blog so that they’ll find you easily. If your customers are on Amazon, sell on Amazon. You’ll be able to grow your sales and even find connect with new customers by selling on Amazon.

Trusted brand

Amazon is a recognized and trusted brand. Amazon was founded in 1994. Thus, it has over 20 years of relationship and trust building under its belt. If your store lacks brand recognition because it’s relatively new, customers may feel safer buying from Amazon than your store. By having your own store, you can build a great reputation and brand. By selling on Amazon too, you can get access to the customers who may be a bit more risk averse or weary. Over time, the customers who consistently buy from you on Amazon may eventually start buying directly from your store.

Many people have an account

As mentioned earlier, Amazon has millions of active users. In the US, 44% of households have an Amazon Prime account. The average Amazon Prime user spends $2500 a year on Amazon alone. Thus, when it comes to ecommerce, Amazon has a huge chunk of marketshare in the industry. Those with Amazon Prime accounts will likely search on Amazon for a product they want since they have special perks as a member. It’s important to be where your customers are. If your primary audience is in the US, then having your products on Amazon is worthwhile.

No listing fee

One of the perks of selling on Amazon is that there aren’t any listing fees. You can add as many products to your Amazon store as your heart desires. With an Amazon Pro Merchant account, you’ll be required to pay $39.99 a month and a percentage or your sale. If you sell a lot of products on Amazon, the monthly fee seems minimal.

Proven success model

Many Amazon sellers have achieved big payouts on the platform. About 0.3% of Amazon sellers make over $100 million in sales on Amazon alone, with 0.6% making over $50 million. The number may seem small but $100 million is a lot of money for a brand to make off only one sales channel. Notably, 51% of Amazon sellers make over $100,000 in sales each year so odds are definitely in your favor. With consistent effort, you too can be an Amazon success story.

Tips for Selling on Amazon

Treat your Amazon store like your actual shop

Your Amazon store won’t make you six figures in sales just because you uploaded products. You’ll need to treat it like your online store. You’ll need to drive traffic to the Amazon product pages whether with Amazon ads or other method. You’ll need to optimize product pages. You’ll need to get great reviews. You’ll need to offer great customer service. Your brand still has to live up to a great reputation even if products are sold on Amazon.

Get online reviews early on

Focus on getting positive reviews early on. Go the extra mile for your customers. Issue refunds quickly if a customer is upset. In the event that you get a negative review, communicate with the customer to try to have it removed. Offer a free gift and great service to keep your customers happy. After going above and beyond many customers will change their review if asked. Most have found that having a 95% rating has lead to a better ranking in the Amazon search engine.

Focus on optimizing your product pages

When selling on Amazon, it’s important to optimize your product pages. You can use a tool like Merchant Words to determine the the estimated monthly search volume for keywords as well as which categories they dominate in. By choosing popular keywords you can improve your chances of being found organically by customers. Also, you’ll want to consider which product categories your products would perform well in.

Pay for Amazon ads

Paying for Amazon ads is optional and not essential for growing your Amazon presence. One of the perks for paying for Amazon ads is that you get access to Amazon’s search data. The cost per click is often fairly low on Amazon compared to other ad networks. Also, the product ad blends in well with the other products which makes it likely that a customer will click on the product if it meets their needs.

Register as a professional seller

Having a professional seller account will save your Amazon store money if you’re uploading countless products. As an AliExpress dropshipper, you can add as many products as you wish. Remember, there’s no listing fees. The more products you list on Amazon the more likely that you’ll be found. Also, the more products you have the more money you can potentially make. Product volume, especially on marketplaces like Amazon, can be great for getting sales.

Answer customer inquiries quickly

Respond to customer inquiries quickly when selling on Amazon. Often times, customers can respond to an inquiry if they know the answer. However, if you answer on behalf of your brand, you can control the response. Sometimes upset customers can respond negatively to certain customer questions so having a positive yet honest spin on an answer can go a long way.

Myths of Selling on Amazon

Amazon’s marketplace is too crowded

While there are hundreds of millions of products on Amazon, there’s still room for a business like yours to make money. Even if you can’t compete on price, it’s still possible for a potential Amazon customer to choose your product over a competitor or even supplier. Don’t add barriers. Even if you only make an additional $10,000 in revenue from your Amazon store, that’s still more than you would have had by avoiding it.

You can set it and forget it

Often times, entrepreneurs think marketplaces will result in people finding your products on their own. You need to be proactive about generating sales, especially in the beginning. Once you’ve built up a few sales and received positive reviews, you’ll be more likely to be found organically. However, you should still put in effort to attract more sales whether through ads or other methods.

You can slow down on your store because you have Amazon traffic now

The reality is Amazon is only one sales channel. Your own store can prove to be more valuable over the long term as you can eventually sell it. Also, if Amazon were to ever go away or close your shop, you’d still have your online store to fall back on. Never become dependent on one sales channel. The more streams of income your business has the less risky it is for you if any of them ever stop panning out.

New products can’t get organic traffic

New products can get organic traffic if they’re well optimized. Also, if you send paid traffic to your products as soon as you upload them and focus on getting sales and reviews early on, your new products can also get organic traffic. Potential customers may be weary of items without reviews but there will still be those who buy products without them if it’s something they want.

The lowest price always gets bought

Not all customers buy items based on price. If a customer sees your product first, even if the price is higher they may buy yours instead. Also, a customer may buy from yours if they recognize your brand as they’ve built rapport with you. In addition, a customer may think there’s a difference in quality between a lower cost version versus a higher cost version which may result in them choosing a slightly more expensive product.

How to Sell on Amazon

What will you sell?

When it comes to determining what to sell and how to get access to those products, you can use Oberlo as a product source. Oberlo allows you to import AliExpress products, descriptions and images into your Shopify store with ease. You can use the products you’ve imported to your store as items to sell on Amazon.

Does your store meet all requirements?

To become an Amazon seller, you’ll need to ensure that you meet all requirements and that your products aren’t restricted. Niches like baby products, books, pet supplies, toys & games can start an Amazon store quickly. You can view additional eligible stores. If your niche isn’t listed there, you’ll need to apply for approval. Amazon also has restricted products such as hoverboards, explosives, weapons. Under no circumstances can you upload these types of products.

Create a professional seller account

If you currently run a successful store on your own website, you’ll likely need a professional Amazon account. In the individual selling plan, every time you sell a product you owe Amazon .99 cents which eats away at your margins, especially on top of other Amazon fees. You’ll only pay a one time monthly subscription and a few category related fees with a professional seller account.

To register, go to Amazon Seller Central where you’ll have to provide your name, email and password.

Next, you’ll need to share your business details.

Then, you’ll need to continue on with the process by providing Amazon your business’ billing, tax and product information.

Apply for category approval

Some categories require approval from Amazon before they can be added. Popular categories such as Clothing & Accessories, Shoes, Handbags & Sunglasses, and Jewelry require approval before selling. Take a look at the approval requirements for each category to determine your specific next steps.

Connect your Amazon account to your Shopify account

After receiving Amazon approval, connect your Amazon seller account to your Shopify account. On the left navigation of the Shopify dashboard, look for the + button beside Sales Channels and click on it.

A pop-up will appear where Amazon is listed first. Click Add Channel.

Next, click ‘Connect to Amazon.’

Create listings for products

Under sales channel, you’ll see Amazon listed, click on it. Next, click the create listing button. Afterwards, you’ll want to click Select Product. There will be two options to choose from. As a dropshipper, you should click the lower option ‘This product is made by another brand.’ Choosing this option will allow you to search for the AliExpress product to become an additional seller. After finding the product you sell, click Select. Lastly, you’ll need to select Publish. And repeat the process for each item.

Send traffic to store

The last step is to send traffic to your Amazon store. You can do this by creating Amazon ads to drive traffic to your product to garner sales. You’ll want to be driving traffic to both your official website and to your Amazon store.

In this article, you learned how to sell on Amazon. Are you thinking about adding Amazon as a sales channel for your store? Let us know in the comments below!

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Nicole Martins Ferreira

Nicole Martins Ferreira is a self-employed eCommerce entrepreneur. Her passion for eCommerce is so strong that she works on her website 7 days a week and has never been happier. She is committed to helping others succeed and is constantly learning new tricks to provide more value to entrepreneurs. Follow Nicole on Twitter at @NicoleMarFer

Irma

Is there only a ‘professional account’ to apply for, because I have just started drop-shipping. No sales yet.

Nicole

Hi Irma, if you’ve just started and haven’t made any sales yet you can sign up for the individual seller plan. You’ll need to pay a percentage for every product sold. Make sure you price your products accordingly so that you don’t take a loss.

Irma

Sounds great, thanks Nicole. Can one still drop-ship then?Meaning with an individual seller plan?

Nicole

Yeah, you’ll still be able to sell on Amazon via dropshipping. The only difference is that you’ll have a high per sale cost. Once you start growing and doing high volume, you can switch over to a professional account to save some extra money.

Don Davis

This sounds great. However, the entire “Prime” concept or even regular shipping does not seem to mesh with AliExpress. It sometimes takes more than 10 business days/ 2 weeks with ePacket from China. I’m trying to understand how dropshipping on Amazon is even possible with the strict requirements?

Irma

Thanks Nicole!

Ginger Lyne

How do you list items if you are already approved in one of the approval required categories? When I try to list my product it is not in the list of categories. Please help I really need to use this function.

Ale_S

I think the same as you do. Even with epacket our sales get to the US in no less than 2 weeks. ¿Can anyone show us an actual shopifystore owner who is dropshipping on Amazon to check?

Pnclogos

So what do you do about the extended shipping timeline when you dropship for aliexpress.. is there a way around that.. with amazon prime around do people really order stuff that takes two weeks to deliver

Have some concerns also. First will products form AliExpress have to be shipped to Amazon wharehouse for shipping? Second what about sku #’s are they required since most Aliexpress does not have them?

Yuriy Ivanov

I have the same concerns. Amazon shoppers aren’t used to such a long time delivery.

Don Davis

I believe you may have to purchase UPC codes for each product and each variation of that product (size, etc.) and then assign in Amazon. The products themselves do not have to display the UPC code but the UPC code must be used only once. I may be off on this, but that is my understanding.

I believe so also. I know of other dropshiping sites like Oberlo based out of USA that offer Amazon and Ebay integration. Just don’t see how something shipped from China can compete with the other sellers. Would love to know the answer for my eCommerce store.

Randoobussiness –

When I started to create a listing, it says “Creating new Amazon listings is only available for products in the Clothing and Accessories category. More categories will be supported in a coming release.”
Why is that?

Chiazor Arah

but is the only drop shipping option oberlo? can you drop ship with just amazon?

Chiazor Arah

this is exactly my first thought, amazon buyers are used to prime timelines.

Stephanie

Can I dropship books from Amazon? I’m an author marketing my own books on Amazon. I would like to dropship some of the bestsellers in my genre.

Helpful article but imo dropshipping is not recommended for Amazon. Better to focus on your Shopify store, then go on Amazon when you have the money to invest as there is a LOT more involved in selling on there.

Nikki Stars

Great article! The only problem I have with Amazon is that they require you to have UPC/EANs for your products. The solution that I found out is getting an GTIN exemption which works at times.

According to Shopify admin page. Amazon Professional account is a must. Individual accounts are not enough. I tried with an individual account and it didnt work. 🙁

TheFustan TheFustan

another challenge is the shipping rates if you have the shipping rates package added to your shopify, you would still have to add them manually to Amazon.

TheFustan TheFustan

though, i got to say this is a very feature that worth trying. Thank you Nicole 🙂

Weekdaygirl

I sale on Amazon and FBA is all I do on Amazon because Dropshippng from China is not recommended. Amazon customer are more professional and they want there stuff. Alixpress takes too long. Besides that if you don’t do FBA you don’t get the Prime sign next to your item which makes it sale. Free shipping two days. You can drop ship but don’t be doing it from China try America. Amazon strict on that metrics and people do leave reviews. I would never drops hip from China. They do have China sellers but if you look at them metrics is all low. Best thing order stuff send it to Amazon for them to sell been doing that since 2014. I know people making 100,000 a year in sales and a month doing FBA side only.

Ahhh thank-You sir! Is that where you send items to Amazon warehouse and they ship them out?

Don Davis

Exactly 🙂

bassem ibrahim

Amazon doesnot allow to dropship the products you sell.
If your shopify store is dropshiping products from aliexpress direct to the customers.amazon will shut your store as this against amazon’s policy.
The two ways you sell in amazon is to use FBA or fulfill the sales orders your self

Autumn Horne

They compete because the product’s are a lot cheaper and the markup higher so you make more profit but I’m already paying for my shopify store no way I’m going to pay another 40 dollars just to sell the same products

Japhat

Hey Ibrahim, could you buy the items from Aliexpress, then send it to Amazon’s FBA for fulfillment? Would that be an issue?

bassem ibrahim

That is fine to buy the products from china and send to fba but to list products on amazon and your suppliers drop them direct to customers this is against amazon policy.

I am based in South Africa, and if there is anyone who has successfully opened an Amazon Seller Central account on the platform (South Africa is not a recognised country for Amazon Seller Central), please can you confirm if there is an alternative way to go about it